In recent years, with a development in digital storage media, methods of compressing and recording long-time moving pictures in these recording media have been examined. In International Organization for Standarization (ISO), a working group of International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), "MPEG (Moving Picture Image Coding Experts Group)" has been active for standarization of moving picture coding methods. For example, there is "ISO/IEC 13818-2 (MPEG2)" as an international standard of moving picture coding method. Employing such a moving picture coding method, a long-time moving picture, such as a movie, can be recorded in a single recording medium, such as an optical disk, while maintaining high picture quality.
By the way, the time for releasing a movie or the like in theaters differs from country to country or from area to area, and a sale of a software, i.e., information for seeing the movie by reproduction, in the form of information recording media such as optical disks and VTR tapes (hereafter referred to simply as media) is generally started when a prescribed period of time has passed after the release time of the movie so that the box-office profits of the movie are not adversely affected by the software.
Meanwhile, when a program software for a game or computer is sold in the form of optical disks such as CD-ROMs, the sales time is shifted for each area. The reason is as follows. The time required for adjusting the program software to be sold to languages or logical structures of computers on the market differs between areas or between types of computers employed.
In recent years, however, as the machinery of distribution of goods has been reorganized, even though the sales time of media is shifted from area to area, media being on sale in an area where the sale of the media has started already are available in an area where the sale of the media has not started yet. Under such circumstances, even though the media provide the same software, reproduction control to inhibit or restrict the use of the software, i.e., viewing of a movie or reproduction of a computer program, in each area has been increasingly demanded by software markers.